Etymologically
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renounce

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Pronunciation

  • /ɹɪˈnaʊns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English renouncen, also renounse and renoncen,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French renoncier (“to give up, cede”),[5][2][6] Anglo-Norman renouncer, renouncier,[6] and directly borrowed from Latin renūntiō (“to bring back word; to proclaim; to protest against, renounce”).[5][6][2][7] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back, against”) and nūntiō (“to report, announce”),[5][3][8] from nūntius (“messenger”),[5][3][7] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *neu- (“to shout”);[5][3] Barnhart calls nūntius of uncertain origin.[7] In French the verb is recorded from about 1155, meaning "to announce, declare"; by about 1245 it also meant "to give something up".[6] It is related to announce, denounce and pronounce.[6][9] The card-playing noun follows French renonce (“failure to follow suit”).[6][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give up a right or claim, to resign: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[7] The OED's first record is from before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, with to ("to make renunciation of").[6] Chaucer used the word once and Gower twice.[12]

Semantic evolution

The first English uses were legal and formal: to give up, resign or surrender a right, an office or a possession.[6][2][5] From this the verb was extended to giving up beliefs (1446) and habits or ways of life (about 1480),[6] to repudiating a law or authority (about 1450),[6] to disowning God (1502)[6] and to disclaiming a person (1582).[6][10] Etymonline dates the sense "abandon, discontinue" a habit to the late 15th century and "disclaim relationship with" a person to about 1500.[5] The Latin sense "announce, proclaim" was also borrowed, but lasted only from late Middle English to the early 17th century.[10][11] In card games, from the mid-17th century, to renounce is to play a card of another suit when one has none of the suit led;[10][13] the noun, from about 1720, follows the French renonce.[6][10] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as "to disown; to abnegate" and "to quit upon oath".[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – to give up, resign, in Chaucer's Boece.[7]
  • before 1393 – to make renunciation of, with to.[6]
  • c. 1400 – to give up a claim, right or possession.[6]
  • 1446 – to abandon a belief by open declaration.[6]
  • c. 1450 – to repudiate a law or authority.[6]
  • c. 1480 – to give up a practice or way of life.[6]
  • 1582 – to disown a person.[6]
  • c. 1604 – in law, to refuse to act as executor.[6]
  • c. 1720 – noun, in cards, a failure to follow suit.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To give up a claim, title or right, especially by a formal declaration: He renounced his right to the estate.[13][11][6]
  2. To give up or abandon a habit, belief or way of life: She renounced alcohol after the accident.[13][11][6]
  3. To repudiate or disown; to refuse to recognize a person, authority or faith any longer.[13][11][10]
  4. (law) To decline or give up a right or position, especially that of executor or heir.[6][10]
  5. In cards, to fail to follow suit because one has no card of the suit led.[13][10]
  6. (obsolete, late 14th–early 17th century) To announce or proclaim.[11][10]

Noun

  1. In cards, a failure to follow suit, or an instance of renouncing.[11][6][10]

Word family

  • renouncement
  • renouncer
  • renounceable
  • unrenounced
  • nonrenouncing
  • unrenouncing

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary's distinction: to renounce is to declare strongly that one gives up an opinion, profession or pursuit for ever, as a pretender renounces his claim, while to recant is to declare publicly that one gives up a belief because it was wrong, which implies adopting the opposite belief.[5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.